Girl on a Street Bench: Thanksgiving Thankfulness

Time to be Grateful

Obviously, Thanksgiving is the time to give "Thanks", a time to reflect and appreciate your life and the people and things who have chosen to be a part of it in the past year. With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, tonight I have spent my time reflecting on my year and I've realized how much I've forgotten and how much I have to appreciate!

The beginning of the year, I celebrated a year of nanny-ing and being an important part of two children's lives. It was hard at times, but mostly amazing. The relationships I built with the children were life-changing. I spent lots and lots and lots of time learning patience and if you had asked me a couple years ago, there is no way I ever thought I would be a nanny, especially not for a year and a half of my life. But I am so glad I was because it was such a great experience and an extremely steady part of my life that I needed and missed from my college days.

Also, in the beginning of the year, I was four months in to living down the street from my best friend again. Growing up, we were a five minute walk away from each other. College separated us, and then again separated in our young adult lives, by work and our desires to live in different places. Finally, we were able to live down the street from each other in Philly, now just a five minute Uber ride from each other. It was amazing and I got to spend weekly Yoga and wine sessions with my two favorite people and there was nothing better. Reminiscing, we got to explore the city together on snow days, St. Pattys Day, random concerts in North Philly and of course, eating the best Nachos that have ever existed at El Vez. As Andy Bernard once said, "I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them".

Of course, in the middle of the year, I took an extreme leap of faith and decided to be a "grown up" and moved to Coastal Virginia by myself. As my six month anniversary date draws near, I can't help but think of all the great things that this place has brought me! First, it has brought me a new Best Friend. The second week I moved here, a girl I worked with, but had not really met texted me and said, "Hey. We are going to the beach this weekend, if you want to come". I cannot even explain how excited I was to receive that text because 1. I love the beach and 2. I now had plans. We ended up going to the beach together and it was the worst beach day. It was extremely cloudy and the wind was whipping the sand right at us. We tried to stay for as long as we could, but after 1.5-2 hours we were completely done. I can't remember any specific details of how our relationship developed after that, but now I have my "Tiff Tiff" and life is good. Second, a great job! My job is a lot of hard but good work! Work that I enjoy and even through the frustrating times, one that I appreciate! My life in Coastal Virginia has included lots of beach time, lots and lots of breweries and the perfect little town where I live. Couldn't have asked for a better place to move out of Pennsylvania to for the first time.

Lastly, I am more than thankful for my continuing relationship with the man I love. I'll say very little to avoid mushiness. But, we have been together for 20 months and 85% of that time has been spent living at least 3 hours away from each other. It has been so, so challenging and the most wonderful thing at the same time. I am still in awe of how I found someone who enjoys the same things that I do, has the same humor, and 90% of the same personality. (I know, a lot of math in this section of the blog..) One day, we won't be so far away, but this is probably the greatest learning experience that we will both encounter and I somehow feel like I have gotten to love him harder because of it.

Overall, thinking about 2018 brings me to happy tears. There are so many things to be grateful for and lots I've left out (visiting California and Connecticut for the first time, spending time with my cute little nephews, laughing until I cry with many) and I've said this for the past 2 years or so, but this may have been one of the best years of my life. I know we still have a month left, but 2019, I AM READY FOR YOU!